


Lest the Generations Fail

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Series: The Female of the Species [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-07 12:03:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10360023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: In which our heroines take part in the Reaper War. Can they get their act together before the Reapers destroy all sentient life, or will the sexual tension remain unresolved for another cycle?AU retelling of Mass Effect 3, centered on Ashley Williams and Samantha Traynor.





	1. The Dismal Situation

**Author's Note:**

> Just an FYI, this chapter deals with the events of the initial attack on Earth and Priority: Mars, so trigger warnings for that. Tried to keep things from getting graphic at all.

Ashley’s return to Earth with the Normandy is a mixed bag. On the one hand, most of the ground team specialists have made themselves scarce--half of them were criminals even before they signed up with a known terrorist organization. The rest of the crew gets taken in for serious debriefing. (Miraculously, not even a whiff of scandal attaches to her, despite the family name, because apparently she was on official orders directly from Anderson himself to investigate.) She’s stuck planetside with damn little to do, which is just plain frustrating given what she knows is coming. And the Normandy herself is immediately grounded for retrofits. 

On the other hand, she’s been promoted to Lieutenant Commander, which is nice, as these things go. Makes her the ranking officer attached to the Normandy. Gives her a raise in pay, not that liquid currency is going to be too valuable if the war drags on and the economy collapses. Still, she’s commanding the best ship in the fleet. (Sam--now Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor--is involved with upgrading her comm systems. Ash spends as much time as she can ‘supervising’ the process, but Anderson wants a rush job on syncing the QEC, which means they don’t get a lot of time alone. Scuttlebutt says Anderson wants the ship as his own mobile command center.)

It also means that when the Reapers hit Vancouver, James Vega falls in line behind her, along with two privates working a security detail, four civilians, and a technician clutching an assault rifle taken from a dead soldier like his life depended on it. Which, okay, it might.

“We’ve got to get out of this building before it collapses,” Ashley barks. “Vega, you’re on point. Campbell, left flank; Westmoreland, right flank. Civilians in the middle. Go go go!” Vega leads them on a smart course, picking them through the rubble. “Good work, LT.” They add another civilian and a corporal to their merry band as they go.

“Be easier if I knew where we were going, ma’am.” He holds them up as they reach the street outside by way of a hole in the wall.

“We’ve got to get to the Normandy, and see if we can evac any of these civilians.” She turns to the white-knuckled tech. “See if you can raise the Normandy, or Admiral Anderson, or Shepard, or, hell, anyone.”

The man’s wide eyes bob as he nods, frantically working his omnitool. “Patching you in, ma’am.” A ball of fire explodes in the middle of the street, then two more. As if the explosions aren’t bad enough, somehow there are monstrosities left behind.

“Dios!” Vega swears and gang-tackles two of the civilians to cover behind the rubble. One of the others isn’t so lucky and gets stitched with bullets. It takes some doing, but they successfully gun down the Reaper troops and keep moving. 

Every street is like that: an endless stream of ruined buildings, explosions, and creatures shooting at them. They finally get the civilians--those of them that are left--to a tram station and wish them godspeed. They pick up the pace now that they aren’t playing defense. The damn jittery technician takes a bullet between the eyes peeking over half a wall. The corporal’s dying screams are the only warning they get for a horde of husks. Ashley’s never been so glad to see the Normandy in all her days.

***

Sam has just finished re-syncing the Normandy’s communication systems with the local grid after rebooting them when the screams start. She gulps. “EDI, please tell me those aren’t real.”

The ship’s AI flashes its curved avatar into existence beside her. “Preliminary analysis suggests that the ship’s communication feeds are operating correctly. Coupled with the loss of contact with outlying satellites suggests only one inference.”

“The Reapers.” She closes her eyes. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.”

“Specialist Traynor.” EDI’s voice cuts through her panic. “You are beginning to hyperventilate. And, need I remind you, we do not have a medical officer currently on board.”

Sam takes a pull on her inhaler. “Thanks, EDI.”

“Think nothing of it; I would hated to have had to explain your demise to Lieutenant Commander Williams. Speaking of which, the Commanding Officer is hailing us.” A brief pause. “Specialist Traynor, can you triangulate the locations of Commanders Williams and Shepard? I will need to assist Jeff with the flying of the Normandy.” 

Sam just nods, because she can _do_ this. Not just in the sense of she is capable of doing it, which, yes, she did get trained to do this exact thing, and is rather good at it, thanks for asking. But in that it is something which is useful and doable and which she can take care of. Unlike, say, the screams.

She wonders if this is better or worse than the Collectors: the wholesale slaughter, or the vanishing to fates unknown. She hates that this is seriously a question that needs asking.

“Wait, is that an _AI_?” She hears one of the other technicians ask. She ignores the question and continues her calculations. “Is an AI flying the ship?!”

“I am flying the ship.” Joker’s voice bristles over the intercom. “The AI is just doing everything else, because, in case you guys haven’t noticed, we’re flying with a skeleton crew of techs finishing the retrofits, not an actual Alliance crew. No offense, Traynor.”

“None taken,” she mutters, mostly to herself as she optimizes the Normandy’s flight path based on Ashley and Shepard’s locations. And then all she can do is hold on, knuckles white around her inhaler, and keep breathing as Joker puts the ship through its paces, spiraling and swerving through what Traynor imagines must be a labyrinth of Reapers in the sky. She’s really just as glad the CIC doesn’t have viewports.

***

They pick up Ashley first, along with Vega and two women Sam doesn’t recognize. She doesn’t have a chance to talk to her until they’re nearly to Mars. “How is it out there?”

“‘The dismal situation waste and wild/ A dungeon horrible, on all sides round/ As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames/ No light, but rather darkness visible/ Served only to discover sights of woe,/ Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace/ And rest can never dwell, hope never comes.’”

“There’s still hope, right?”

“Hackett thinks there is. Which is why we’re going to Mars to pick up Liara from the Prothean Archives. Some kind of hush-hush Prothean device.”

“And so you and Vega and Shepard are going to secure it and Liara?” Ashley nods. “I wish I could go with you.” She never did take Chambers up on her offer of Nemesis training and enhancements. She supposes it’s a little late for that, now, and who knows when she’ll be able to complete her combat rating with the Alliance.

“You stay here,” Ashley says, shaking her head. “We’ve got few enough crew as it is, and there’s supposed to be a dust storm rolling in--we’ll need someone working to keep the radio lines as clear as possible.” She grimaces, thinking about Shepard potentially having to balance her feelings for Liara and the success of the mission. This is why there are fraternization regs.

“Come back to me? Promise?”

Ashley’s ‘Yes’ catches in her throat. Because she doesn’t know what kind of resistance they’re run into, but if this has a chance to be what Hackett says it is… Well, then it would be worth dying for, wouldn’t it? “I...I’ll do what I can.”

Sam’s voice is thick, and she cups a hand around Ashley’s cheek. “I’ll be waiting, then.”

***

Ashley does her best to put the butterflies away as the shuttle lands on Mars, but the remaining flutters in her stomach turn to knots as they watch a squad of Cerberus goons executing Alliance troopers. “What the hell?” She thinks back to her time aboard the SR-2 while it was still a Cerberus ship. None of the crewers had seemed the cold-blooded murder type. Hell, come to that, some of the ‘independent contractors’ were more ruthless by far, human and alien alike. 

“I hope,” Shepard says in her most measured tones, “you don’t think I had anything to do with this.”

“I’ve had you under house arrest for the past couple months,” Vega reminds them. “No way you could have had anything to do with this.”

“No,” Ashley says. “I saw the way you gave the Illusive Man the finger from Samara’s helmet cam. Which was pretty awesome, by the way.” She forces a grin despite the circumstances. “So, yeah, I trust you. One-hundred-percent.” James nods his agreement.

“Thanks.” Shepard checks her guns. “Let’s go kill those assholes.”

“Aye-aye, ma’am!” They chorus.

They shred the first wave of Cerberus troops like paper, make their way into the archive. It’s nice to see Liara again; it’s nice to see Shepard see Liara again, to see some of the tension bleed out of the Commander. 

It’s weird to think that she might have been fighting alongside some of the Cerberus grunts a few months ago, and now they’re trying to kill each other despite the Reapers slaughtering everyone in sight. At least, it’s weird until they open a helmet to hack into their comm systems (she wishes idly that Sam were here) to discover husk-like modifications (she’s just as glad Sam isn’t here). Brainwashing his own men? Jesus. She almost feels worse about having to kill them. 

Then they have to chase Dr. Coré before she escapes with the data. The running goes well enough, and Vega, that crazy badass, rams the Cerberus shuttle before they can get away. Ashley is just about to move in to collect the data when a robot comes out of the flaming hulk of the shuttle.

***

Sam later flays herself for her first thought when she sees Liara holding an armored figure in a fireman’s carry, because the first thing she thinks is that the bookish young asari is impressively strong, and only her second thought is--

“Oh my God, Ashley?” 

“She’s going to be fine,” Liara says, sparing a moment to comfort the younger woman as Shepard barks commands. “Help me get her to the med-bay.” 

“What happened?” 

Liara nods towards the robot body James was even now bearing towards the AI deck with the help of Cortez, and explains what had happened. “We’ll have to try to stabilize her until we can get her to the Citadel.” 

“If I could have been there,” Sam agonizes as she helps Liara remove Ashley’s armor and hook her up to the medical equipment. If she’d learned how to fight better, had cut through the static from the storm faster...

“You cannot blame yourself!” Sam jumps as much at the sudden sharp tone as at the grip on her arm. “Goddess knows how many times Shepard and I have relied on each other for rescue, how many times we have had to watch the other in dire need and be unable to anything about it.”

“So, now what?” Sam hadn’t realized she was sobbing.

“Now you do what you can.”

***

“A pity about the loss of the Coré unit,” the Illusive Man rasps. “But your cybernetic models proved their worth, Dr. Kendricks, and the data recovered was invaluable.”

“Shall I increase production?”

“Negative, Doctor. We’ll need to divert resources to Lawson’s research as well as increased production from the Atlas Cell.” He turns slightly to face both holographic figures. “As such I will be transferring both of you to the Wolfshadow Cell.” 

Ueno tenses. “Is it time to activate the cell?”

The Illusive Man stubs out his cigarette. “That would be premature. With the Reapers attacking, humanity will need every asset. Operative Brooks also informs me that Wolfshadow’s primary function is not yet ready. No, you are being assigned to Wolfshadow to supplement the support team. And I do mean team; if Shepard has taught me anything, it’s the value of a committed team.”


	2. Unexpected Offers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ashley begins her recovery.

Ashley is still unconscious when Samantha pays her a visit. At least the bruising and swelling have started to go down a little. “Good to see you breathing,” Sam begins. “The Alliance notified your family, if that makes you feel any better, so they know you’re hurt, but still alive. I told my family. You remember them, they always liked you. God, I hope you remember them. I hope you remember me.” She brushes away some stray hairs from Ashley’s face. “I don’t know how often I’ll be able to visit, but Shepard needed to meet with the Council and we needed to take on a full complement of crew. I was talking to Campbell and Westmoreland--they’re staying on, because there are only so many marines to go around. There’s fighting everywhere. Everywhere except here. You might be the safest human in the entire galaxy. Especially since Thane is here, doing some kind of physical therapy. I ran into him in the lobby, and we got to talking. He says he’ll keep an eye on you. Sweet fellow, if, you know, you fancy men.” She lets out a nervous giggle. “Which I don’t. Handsome soldier girls, apparently.” She presses her lips to Ashley’s forehead, because why not. “Wake up for me, my love.” 

***

Ashley is alone when she finally wakes up, but her omnitool is flashing with unread messages. There are emails from Shepard and some of her other friends from her tours aboard the Normandy, including a touchingly-concerned Sam. That last includes an invitation to join her on a chess app, which she accepts. (May as well keep her brain sharp.) There are several from her mom and sisters, a few from former squadmates, and an email from someone helpfully offering to double the size of her penis. Frankly, she had expected each of those. She was not expecting an email from Councilor Udina’s account. 

“Seriously,” she mutters, “Why do Earth’s councilors keep offering me secret missions?” This time it’s an offer to enlist as a Spectre. Which, admittedly, is more tempting now than it would have been five years ago. Before, she couldn’t have pictured herself swearing loyalty to anyone but the Alliance and humanity. But now, after seeing the dark side of Cerberus and meeting a whole host of non-humans aboard the Normandy, the idea of serving the galaxy as a whole is far more palatable. And her father had always drilled responsibility into her. After seeing the kinds of good that Shepard was able to accomplish--and the evils that rogue Spectres like Saren and Tela Vasir could work--she was starting to see that it was her responsibility to make sure the job was done right. Still, she sends Shepard and Sam each an email asking for their opinion, because the possibility of being the second human Spectre is a little frightening. She just wishes Sam were here to share the good news in person.

She does get a visit from Sarah, her sister, bearing bad news. “It’s Thomas, isn’t it?” Her younger sister nods tearfully. “Come here, you. Don’t worry, I’m mostly healed.” She tugs Sarah down onto the bed into a reassuring embrace, letting Sarah sniffle into the shoulder of the hospital gown.

“Here I was going to comfort you,” she stutters. “I just got the news this morning.”

“Goddamnit.” She gives Sarah another squeeze before letting her back up. “I’m sorry.” There isn’t anything more to say than that, but they keep talking anyway until the tears have worked themselves out. They talk about the war, about Lynn’s new girlfriend, about Ashley’s new job offer. 

“Congrats, big sis!” Sarah gives her a mock punch on her damp shoulder. “You should definitely go for it. Speaking of which, how’s your ‘friend’ going?” 

“Sarah!” Ashley sinks back into her pillow. When she sees that Sarah refused to be deterred (in finest Williams fashion), she groans, “we’re working on it.”

“Is she cute? Is she nice? Does she treat you right?” Sarah presses, eager to have something positive to latch on to even for a few moments.

“She’s a really good friend, and I think...I think I might be falling in love with her.”

“Good for you, big sis. Keep in touch, okay?” Ashley nods as Sarah gets up to leave.

***

Maya Brooks surveys another stack of dossiers. All human this time. Good riddance. She had nearly left Cerberus over the mongrel lot she had been ordered to assemble for Shepard. (She conveniently ignored the fact that said team had, in fact, accomplished the task set them without suffering a loss, against impossible odds.) 

It’s probably just as well that Kai Leng is off limits thanks to some other top-priority project. He is a talented operative despite his preposterous weakness for melee weapons, but to say that he isn’t a team player was a grievous understatement. Antisocial and psychotic would be more correct. Not to mention the black implants covering his eyes are, frankly, unnerving. She shudders. No, they would do very well without Kai Leng. Of course, that does mean that she needs another close-quarters biotic. Her eyes flick over to the waiting pod. 

Perhaps it would just be better to go rogue and take the pod with her. That could be enough to get her a fresh start, finally be her own woman for a change. She and the other top-level operatives were spared the obedience and conformity conditioning of the run-of-the-mill grunts so they could continue to function at their creative peaks...but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be demoted in the event of failure. And eventually everyone fails. 

She leafs through another dossier--a particularly delicious choice, given the nature of the project--as her door cycles open. “Operative Brooks?”

“Among my other names. And who are you? Wait.” She gets a better look at the woman in medium armor. “Jinan Ali. What can I do for the Illusive Man’s enforcer?”

“As I have been assigned to your team, perhaps you should tell me what I can do for you.” She traces a curtsey. 

Maya crosses her arms over her chest. “Given that I thought I would have sole discretion over my team members, I can only assume that the Illusive Man wants you to keep an eye on me, which you know, and which you surely know that I know.”

“Is that a guilty conscience?”

“As I was saying,” Maya continues, smirking, “you may find it beneficial to familiarize yourself with my other selections for the team. If you’re going to be here, I’m certainly going to put you to use.”

 

***

One of the few perks of being the ship’s communications specialist is, well, having access to the comm system at all hours. Samantha tries not to abuse the perk, but, honestly, every day that goes by could be her last, or her parents’. So she tries to call every few days. 

Today it’s Brendan who picks up on the other end of the line. “Hey, big sis.”

“Hey, short stuff.” He is, of course, a solid three inches taller than her. “What’s new out in the colonies?”

“No Reapers yet, knock wood.” He taps on the side of his head. “But we’re hearing a lot of stories from refugees.”

“Oh?”

“There’s a place called Sanctuary. Supposed to be safe.” He snorts. “Nobody who survived the Collectors buys that for a minute.”

“It’ll be safe again some day,” Sam says, reacting more to Brendan’s despondent tone than anything he said. “We’re going to stop the Reapers, I promise.”

“You know, I believe you.” He grins. “I guess you can’t tell me anything about the Normandy, huh? We’re watching all the Battlespace features as they come out but they’re all a couple weeks out of date and pretty vague.”

“Would if I could. How’s the girlfriend?”

He blushes. “Uh, okay. You?”

“Same as ever.” She glances away, sees EDI walking meaningfully towards her. “Sorry Brendan, gotta go. All my love to you and Mom and Dad.” She closes out the connection. “Can I help you with anything, EDI?”

“Perhaps you could help me practice my flirting.” EDI clasps her hands in front of her as Sam waits, openmouthed, for her usual deadpan ‘That was a joke.’ “You see, Jeff and I are tentatively becoming involved in a romantic relationship and--”

“Okay! I get it!” Sam backs up a step, hands raised defensively. The offer was a little surprising, but the process would be fascinating to observe and a little harmless flirting might be fun. “Sure, I’ll help you out. That’s the sort of thing girlfriends do for each other. Friends who are girls, not girls who are...involved.” Maybe not so harmless, at least not to her dignity. Well, too late to back out now.

“Thank you, Specialist Traynor.” EDI, smiling innocently, goes about her business. Sam shakes her head and calls up the chess app on her omnitool.

***

Ashley discovers, somewhat to her surprise, that there is at least one person she can talk to in person on a regular basis: Thane Krios. “What are you doing here?” she asks after one of her--their--physical therapy group sessions.

“Kepral’s, in the late stages, often causes muscle tightening, limiting my flexibility. I am trying to stave this decline off as long as possible.” He laughs, low and watery. She can tell he is waiting for the limping asari in earshot to move a little further off--always aware of his surroundings, even now. “Purely out of professional pride. I have spent an embarrassing amount of time crawling through cramped maintenance shafts. And yourself?”

“Got beat up, pretty bad, by a Cerberus bot on Mars. Slowly putting myself back together.” She rubs her sore shoulder. 

“Your injuries did seem quite severe,” Thane observes. “I am glad to see you recovering.” A tiny, sad smile. “I have caused enough misery in my time.” He inhales. “It may interest you to know that several of our former crewmates came to visit you while you were still comatose, among them Commander Shepard and Ms. Traynor.”

“Did they?” Huh, Ash thinks. “I’ll, uh, have to thank them. How are things with you?”

“My body is itching, trapped in the cages of illness while the world burns. But my mind is at peace, and it is good to spend time with Kolyat while I can.” His voice brightens with gallows wit. “And, should the worst come to pass, I will almost certainly be dead before the Reapers finish exterminating all intelligent life.”

“Hopefully you’ll live long enough to see us send them packing; permanently.”

Thane makes a diplomatic gesture with his hands. “And what of you?”

She tells him about the Spectres first. “What do you think?”

“I should hope you would not feel the need to turn me in to the authorities,” he jests.

“I think you earned a pardon for your good behavior,” she teases back. “Besides, I hear Spectres have a lot of discretion.”

“That is true.” He drums his fingers thoughtfully against his chin. “You are certainly qualified, I think. Skilled, deadly, determined. The subtler points you may need some training in, but I expect you would be an excellent student.”

“You offering to train me, Krios?”

“It would be my honor, Commander Williams.” They both smile. 

“I think I will accept, then,” she decides suddenly, because overthinking things has never been her strong suit. (She’ll have to learn, if she’s going into law enforcement. Crap.) “Thanks, Krios.”

“You are very welcome. Now, I could not help but notice that you demonstrated heightened interest when I mentioned that Specialist Traynor had been by to see you…”

“Not you too,” Ash groans. “I’ll talk to her, I promise. And we’ll figure ourselves out.”

“I cannot help but be reminded of how little time we have in this world; I hope you make the best use of your time together,” Thane says with a cryptic smile.

“Thanks, Thane. It’s good to have a friend I can trust around.” She gives his hand a squeeze. “Come on, how about you show me which grub at the cafeteria is actually edible?”


	3. Meetings on the Citadel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date night! For everyone.

Sam throws herself into her work, optimizing comm networks and analyzing transmissions. She feels particularly proud when she discovers the Cerberus attack on Grissom Academy, and it’s nice to see Jack again. She wishes she could spend more time with her family, but there isn’t a lot of downtime in saving the galaxy. There is, in fact, even less than she had realized, when Shepard pulls her aside. 

“I have to drop Jack and her students off on the Citadel, plus like eight other errands to run. But I’ll be honest with you: I don’t have time for that bullshit. Not with the genophage to cure. So if you could do me a favor and just take a few days, drop off these ancient artifacts, buy me some weapon mods, see if you hear anything of interest.” Her face softens. “And enjoy yourself. You’ve been working yourself to the bone for the past week.” She cuts off Traynor’s protest. “And you can check in on Ashley while you’re there.”

“I…” Sam blushes. “Thank you, ma’am.” 

***

“Dr. Ruud.” The Illusive Man greets her with a perfectly tailored gesture.

“Sir.” She dips her coiffed blonde head.

“I’ll need you to continue your research in light of our failed assault on Grissom Academy. But you’ll be joining the Wolfshadow Cell. That will be your primary responsibility.”

“Sir, I think my work has reached--”

“I understand that, Doctor. And you and others will continue your experiments. But I hope I will not have to repeat myself. Good day, Doctor.” Damn fool, she thinks. Even with the antiquated implant on their primary subject, they had had incredible success. Still, there was nothing for it.

***

Samantha is amazed at how fast the credits go when stocking up on the latest weapon components, blowing through more money than she’s ever seen in one place at one time. Most of the other errands are nerve-wracking, because she’s painfully shy around complete strangers, but at least they seem grateful for the news she’s bringing. And then, a stop at Huerta Memorial because she can’t put it off any longer. She buys a volume of Tennyson’s poetry and takes it with her, reading from a page at random as Ashley sleeps. “So find I every pleasant spot

In which we two were wont to meet,

The field, the chamber, and the street,

For all is dark where thou art not.” Sam begins; her breath catches as Ashley joins in from memory.

“Yet as that other, wandering there

In those deserted walks, may find

A flower beat with rain and wind,

Which once she foster'd up with care;

So seems it in my deep regret,

O my forsaken heart, with thee

And this poor flower of poesy

Which little cared for fades not yet.” Ashley replies. “You have a beautiful voice.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re high on pain meds,” Sam teases nervously.

“Sam, I haven’t been on painkillers for a while now. They’re just keeping me here for observation. Heck, they’ll probably send me home soon.” 

“So, um, you think my voice is beautiful, then.” Ashley nods. “Thank you.” She covers Ashley’s hand with her own. 

“I’ve had a lot of time by myself,” Ashley admits. “A lot of quiet time to fill. Time to think.” Samantha’s heart corkscrews in her chest as Ash draws herself up straight in the bed. “Would you want to get dinner sometime?” The delighted squeeze of her hand is all the ‘yes’ she needs to hear.

***

Samantha’s rather astonished when Ashley shows up at the door of her rented room in her dress blues with a bouquet of jasmine. Well. Astonished is a bit of an undersell, really. It’s all she can do not to jump the other woman. She wonders if it’s too late to change her reservation for a nicer restaurant, because her date looks incredible. Probably. They make flustered small talk on the walk over, and Sam hopes she hasn’t sweated through her dress before they can even order an appetizer. 

“So, I have two questions that have been weighing on me,” Ashley confesses. “I don’t know if you saw my email, but Udina wanted to make me a Spectre.” Of course I saw your email, Sam thinks. Then I re-read it. And then I neurotically over-analyzed every word, every piece of punctuation. “I accepted the offer, let them swear me in from my hospital bed. Because it would mean I could do a lot of good in the galaxy, and it might finally clear the stain on my family’s name...and because if I was a Council operative, I wouldn’t have to be as concerned about Alliance fraternization regulations.” She stretches out her hands, all leather-gloved muscle, and wraps up Sam’s own hands in them. “Sam, I have been such an idiot; if you’ll still have me, would you--”

Sam’s passionate kiss interrupts whatever Ashley was going to say next. 

***

The kiss is, in turn, interrupted by a tap on the shoulder by the asari maitre’d. “I’m sorry, I got a little carried away, my apologies.”

“Oh, no, madame, it’s no trouble.” Her indigo face is a perfect picture of vacant politeness. “I only wished to present you with a bottle of champagne, compliments of the women at the table to your right.” 

The asari points to a table occupied by Miranda, her face buried in her hands, and Jack, who is whooping with laughter. “Finally, you two got your heads on straight! Lesbian. Whatever.”

“Allow me to ask our other guests to conduct themselves in a more restrained fashion upon your behalf,” offers the asari superciliously. 

“Please,” Ashley begs. She turns back to Sam. “So, I guess that went well. Except for the bit where our loudmouth mutual friend was shouting at us.” 

“It’ll be one to tell the grandkids,” she laughs.

Grandkids, Ashley thinks. Which means kids. Well, artificial insemination is certainly available enough, and God only knows how many orphans there will be when this is all over. Which is kind of a relief to think about, in a dazed sort of way. And Aunt Jack and Aunt Miranda to spoil them, apparently, like one big, happy, slightly twisted family.

***

“I beg your pardon,” Ali raises an eyebrow. “You assume I’m here to spy on you, and you want to put me to work?”

“My job is to build a wolfpack, Enforcer,” Brooks cuts back. “And wolfpacks are like families.”

“Oh, that’s very good. Did you memorize the Illusive Man’s little speech, or did you come up with that all by yourself?” Ali smirks. “Look, I’m all for the team spirit stuff. But don’t expect me to trust the woman who changes names like panties.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Brooks smiles, raising an eyebrow.

Oh, two can play at this game, Brooks, or whatever you’ll call yourself in the morning. “Depends on if you need to seduce someone for your role or not. Something that matches and looks prettier than it feels if you do. Otherwise...something truly garish, just because it’s the only choice you get to make.” She closes the distance on Brooks as she speaks. “So when do I get to test my thesis?”

“As soon as you can get your armor unbuckled and that fine ass to my quarters,” Brooks purrs. She’s an idiot if she thinks she’s going to get anything out of me in bed...but the chance to wipe that grin off her face with my hand in her twat is too good to pass up. Ali smiles. And there were few enough opportunities to blow off a little steam in Cerberus.

“Just so long you don’t expect me to scream something that isn’t even your real name,” Ali jests. How about that for team bonding, she thinks.

***

“I had a wonderful time tonight,” Ashley says, gallant as ever, once they are back at her rented flat. 

“So did I,” Sam gushes. “Wait,” she asks as the logistical side of her brain kicks in. “You said you only got discharged today. Where are you going to stay?”

“I’ll find a room someplace.” Ashley runs a hand through the hair on the back of her head.

“You could spend the night with me,” Sam blurts out. “I mean, I could sleep on the couch and…”

Now it’s Ashley’s turn to quiet her with a kiss. “I know what you meant. But, frankly, I, um…” Her words tangle. “Let’s take it slow and see where we wind up, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ashley quotes In Memoriam A.H.H. by Tennyson


	4. Keep Your Own Council, And Your Enemies Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cerberus ruins a perfectly good post-coital breakfast.

Sam wakes up naked and alone the next morning. “Ashley?” 

A note from the perfect gentlewoman reads “Gone to requisition breakfast. Back soon. A.” Samantha grins and decides to shower off the sweat, which means she doesn’t look at her omnitool until Ashley is back with coffee and fried-egg sandwiches. 

“What’s wrong?” Ash asks, already wolfing down her sandwich. Well, Sam can hardly blame her, given what they were up to last night.

“The usual communication lines are being jammed, and I’ve got a cryptic message...I think it's from Thane?”

“Shit.” She gulps the last of her sandwich. “Eat as you walk, Sam; you’re going to need the calories.”

“Wait, where are we going?”

“Spectre offices. I need armor and guns...and so do you. Then we’ve got to meet Thane, because there’s something going on. Something with Cerberus.” Sam nods and they both check their sidearms. 

***

Fortunately, the Spectre offices are close by and they are able to slip in without much trouble. Ashley strips down without blushing to change into her armor. Sam’s eyes widen before she does the same. Right, Sam tells herself. No time to ogle your girlfriend. (Your girlfriend?! Your smoking-hot, incredibly competent girlfriend.) You’ve got the Citadel to save. Ashley picks out a set of light armor for her and a solid-looking assault rifle. Her hands are warm but impersonal as she helps Sam with the unfamiliar setup. 

“Ready?”

“As I can be.” She grips her assault rifle nervously, reminding Ashley of the doomed young technician back on earth. 

“Come on, then. You’ll cover my back.” Sam nods, mouth dry. Uses her inhaler. Checks her weapon. Follows Ashley out into the corridors. “If we get a spare minute where we aren’t moving, see if you can raise Thane or the Normandy.” Stupidly she hadn’t thought to trade omnitool addresses with Jack or Miranda last night. Hopefully they were holding their own. “Hang on.” Speaking of omnitools, hers is buzzing. “Udina?”

“Spectre Williams!” His next words are cut off by an explosion. “--under attack! Report to these coordinates!” She can see Tevos and Sparatus in the background of the holocall. She’s impressed that Udina has gotten a call through despite the Cerberus jamming, but he probably has access to some of the secret frequencies that Thane is using.

“Roger that, sir.” She plugs the coordinates into her HUD and radios Thane to rendezvous with them there.

“Negative,” Thane barks. “I’m here with Councilor Valern. He says Udina is cooperating with Cerberus.”

“What?” Samantha and Ashley snap in unison. Udina was a scumbag, but neither of them thought he would sell out to Cerberus.

“Now what?” Sam asks.

“We meet up with Thane first,” Ashley decides. “He’s not that far out of the way, and we’ll be able to move more quickly with three than two.” 

Sam nods her agreement and steps out of the Spectre offices into the hallway--and runs directly into a sleek black figure. “Yikes!” She recognizes it from the pamphlets Kelly Chambers had offered her long ago: a Nemesis. She squeezes the trigger with the muzzle practically at the taller woman’s navel, and the recoil tracks lead up her body and head.

“Nice shooting.” Ashley says dryly as the Nemesis falls to the ground and her helmet cracks off. “Come on.” She starts ahead; Samantha is about to follow after her when she sees the dead woman’s face.

Sam shudders; it was one thing to hear about the enhanced, indoctrinated troops, and another thing to see one face to face. “That could have been me,” she whispers, and trails after Ashley, rifle up.

They make it through to where Thane and Valern are holed up with a few more firefights: nothing they can’t handle, but Sam thinks she might be sick if she ever has to smell burning flesh again and she’s going to have to shower for a whole day to get the stink out.

***

Ashley realizes their error first: they’re up on the balcony, and the other two are down below. Along with Shepard, Liara, and Garrus. And--shit!--now joined by what looks suspiciously like an assassin in Cerberus colors. An assassin with a knife? What a chump, Ashley thinks, setting up her Black Widow (thanks, Spectre resources!) as they continue their bantering and posturing. Inhale, exhale, pull the trigger. 

Her first shot drops his barriers, which must be incredibly strong. He’s already vaulting away by the time she can squeeze the trigger again, so she only grazes his leg. Then she can only watch as Shepard, Garrus, and Thane close to melee range with the man in black.

She estimates the distance of the fall. Should be okay if she can break her fall with those plants. She jumps and is impressed to see Sam follow after her. Turns out they’re too late: the assassin is a broken heap and the Councilor is safe. Garrus has a knife stuck in his leg but he doesn’t look to be in bad shape. Bleeding and in pain, but not in bad shape. She forgets sometimes that he’s a top hand-to-hand specialist _and_ a deadly sniper. 

“Williams, Traynor, good to see the two of you hooked up successfully,” Liara says. Ashley’s face reddens. How does she know? How _could_ she know? Did Miranda tell her? Did she bug her room? “It must have been difficult to find one another, what with the Cerberus attack.”

“Uh, yeah.” Ash tries to banish the very distracting image of Sam’s eager, naked body, moving over her, curling her fingers inside of her...

Shepard straightens up from checking on the turian and assesses the situation. “Traynor, see if you can cancel the jamming. Use what you can find.” She toes the assassin’s corpse. “Garrus, get yourself well. Thane, keep an eye on Traynor, Garrus, and Councilor Valern. Ashley, Liara, you’re on me.” She grins and hefts her shotgun. “We’ve got a Council to save...and a rogue Councilor to put down.”

***

The fighting is a slog more than anything. Indoctrination makes the enemy fanatically devoted, not tactically brilliant. The automated turrets are the biggest challenge because they’re almost as smart but with a much higher rate of fire. The most nerve-wracking part for Ashley is every second that goes by without the comm lines opening back up, because it could mean that Sam just hasn’t cracked the interference yet...or it could mean that Sam is messily dead. She tries not to let it affect her as she guns down Cerberus goons. 

“This way,” Liara calls urgently, spotting the councilors as they head into an elevator. They hop aboard the adjacent elevator, then leap over once Bailey hacks the controls to stop them.

Ashley totters as the elevator starts up again. “Udina must have overridden the hack,” she mutters.

“Yep,” Bailey confirms. “Look sharp, you three: more Cerberus trash inbound.”

“Remember when those Citadel elevator rides were boring?” Shepard quips as the elevators gain speed. “We could do things like gossip and ask nosy questions.”

“Ah, the good old days. Back when all we had to worry about was one Reaper.” Ashley pitches a grenade into the middle of the Phantoms clustered on top of the elevator. She grins as Liara’s biotics send one flying off into the abyssal shaft.

“Such cynicism for one so young,” Shepard laughs as she sprays fire at the surviving foes. Liara coughs meaningfully.

Finally the councilors’ elevator stops with a jerk. “Steady on, LC,” Shepard chides her as she resets her footing. Ash snorts as they chase the three politicians, flanked by two helmeted guards, out onto a platform.

“Spectre Williams! You’re just in time! Commander Shepard’s gone rogue! She’s working for Cerberus. You have to--” Udina yelps as Ashley shoots the ground right next to his foot. 

“Udina, you really weren’t paying attention if you thought I’d buy that line. Now _stand down_.”

The older human’s will falters for a moment. Before he can react, the two guards draw their weapons and open fire at Shepard. 

Ashley looks on with approval as Tevos throws up a barrier around herself and Sparatus. That leaves them freer to do what they do best. Her first shots lower the shields on one guard, which means that Shepard’s charge sends him flying like a ragdoll. Liara dangles the other one by his ankles, making him an easy target. He doesn’t take long.

Tevos lowers her barriers in relief. Which, it turns out, is a mistake, because it gives Udina an opening to draw a holdout blaster and move to take the other councilors hostage. Ashley gasps, but Shepard is the only one with a clear shot, and she takes it without flinching. 

Tevos’s nose wrinkles as she steps over Udina’s body. 

“It would appear we are even deeper in your debt, Spectre Shepard,” Sparatus observes gravely. 

“Yeah, well, maybe the next time I have news about a galactic threat you could listen to me.” Any further comment is interrupted by the crackling of the comms. “Ooh,” Shepard rubs her hands together with glee. “A chance to end a conversation with the Council by unexpectedly _opening_ a line of communication.” Liara and Ashley snort with laughter. “I should go.”

“Ash?” Sam asks over a private channel. “Everything okay?”

She beams with relief. “Just fine.”

***

“I hope you weren’t counting on Kai Leng to round out your team, Brooks.”

“In all honesty, sir,” Ali snorts quietly at the audacity of the operative, “I believe Leng would have been manifestly unsuitable to my needs. Ueno, Grimes, Kendricks, Ali, and Ruud should be sufficient. The loss of Udina is more concerning, I should think.” Her eyes skim over Brooks’s room and its startling lack of personality.

“It is certainly a setback,” the Illusive Man agrees. “But the power vacuum left, especially given the losses inflicted during the Reaper assault on Vancouver, is also something we can exploit at the right time.” He puffs on his cigarette. “And when the time is right, I’ll need Wolfshadow to be ready.” He turns away from her. “Keep me posted, Brooks.”

As soon as the holo cuts out, Maya peels off her uniform, hastily pulled back on over bare brown skin. “I’m impressed you managed to get dressed so quickly,” Jinan notes, tanned and lounging on the bed. “I swear, half the time the virile old bastard doesn’t even bother and only transmits holo from the neck up.”

“Sadly, not all of us have that leeway.” One more reason to strike out on her own, she thinks. Not being at the beck and call of an old pervert. Being under Jinan’s eyes is rather more pleasurable, but is going to delay her plan to leave Cerberus indefinitely.

“You think he’d bat an eye if you reported back in the buff?”

“I don’t care to give him the pleasure.”

Jinan nods her agreement. “Loyalty only goes so far. Now, shall we attend our unfinished business?”


	5. Putting the Gang Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley rejoins the Normandy as her crew handles Rannoch and a few loose ends. 
> 
> If only Cerberus could be dealt with so easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post! Had to work on Saturday and there was new Doctor Who, then Easter.

Ashley knows Liara, Garrus, and James, gets along with them well enough. The two new members of the ground team, on the other hand…

Javik is cold to her, but Sam had warned her that he was cold to everyone. She’s a little more tolerant of the pervasive racism because of her younger days, though she makes an effort to correct him, fueled by her own shame. He doesn’t bother her much. 

What does bother her is the way her hand reaches for her gun whenever she sees EDI. She knows she shouldn’t blame the AI for what her body had done in a past life, so to speak. But when it came to things she could control. For example, flirting with her girlfriend…

“Sam, do you think you could maybe find somebody else for EDI’s flirting practice?”

“Ooh, Lieutenant Commander, are you getting possessive?” Sam knew at once it was the wrong thing to say. “Sorry, I…”

But Ashley’s blush quickly turned devious. “I might be a little bit possessive,” she teases, grabbing Samantha by the hand and tugging her into an empty cargo bay. “Is that okay?” 

“A little surprising, but okay.”

“Good,” Ash says, pinning Sam up against a bulkhead. “Because I was stupid, and afraid, and…” She grabs Sam by the shoulders and kisses her firmly. “Samantha Traynor, you are a beautiful shining person and I love you.”

***

Ueno surveys the team Brooks has assembled. Two scientists, one specializing in biotics, the other in cybernetics. Their top Atlas pilot. The Illusive Man’s most notorious enforcer. An undercover specialist. And himself, a sniper. A capable enough unit. Especially given who their leader would be.

“We’ve got our first assignment, everyone,” Brooks announces. “How does everyone feel about Tuchanka?”

***

EDI tactfully switches off the surveillance cameras in that cargo bay and seals the doors before the Lieutenant Commander and the Specialist begin to disrobe. She logs the Lieutenant Commander’s objection and reevaluates her list of potential female flirting-practice partners based on documented same-sex attraction and existing romantic connections. Then she allows her platform to smile. Available data indicates that her plan to induce jealousy and force a romantic confession was a success. Granted, physiological indicators had suggested a 87% chance of success, but it was still reaffirming to have one’s predictions borne out.

***

Ashley may not be particularly fond of either Javik or EDI. But she is ecstatic to see Tali alive and well. “Hey there, little sis.” 

“It’s Admiral, now,” Tali replies teasingly, but she leans into the hug anyway. “And I hear congratulations are in order for you, too,” Seriously, does everyone know about her love life? It’s only been a few days. “Madame Spectre.” 

“Thanks, Admiral.” Well, it’s not like she was keeping it a secret. “You remember Sam Traynor?”

“The cute comm specialist who was fawning over you?” Wait, what?

“Uh, yeah. Anyway, we’re, um, a thing now. In case you were curious.”

“Well, at least you have someone to celebrate with.” Tali lets out a sigh. “Although...Garrus is still on the Normandy, isn’t he?

Ashley nods. “Hopefully we can liberate your planet, then his. But for now, just you, me, and the Skipper, shooting up geth. Just like old times.” She gives Tali’s arm a squeeze. “Then we can all celebrate.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Tali laughs. “I’ll just set the dates on my omnitool now.” 

***

Unfortunately, things don’t go quite as easily as they might have drawn them up. There is a lot of shooting Geth, just like they had figured. But then… 

“Legion?” Shepard asks as they free their old comrade. 

Legion explains the situation: the Reapers have been using him to broadcast a signal strengthening the geth, making them more intelligent. “Well, that’s kind of scary,” Ash shudders. “Like Cerberus isn’t bad enough.”

Legion’s head droops. “In this respect, the ability of the geth to form a universal consensus is a weakness.” 

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Shepard interjects. 

“I second that motion,” Tali says as the quarians open fire on the dreadnought. 

***

“I wish I could be down there,” Ashley sighs as the Normandy orbits Rannoch. “I mean, I can’t blame Shepard for taking Tali, Garrus, and Legion with her, but still…”

“You can’t be everywhere at once,” Sam reminds her. 

“But Tali’s my friend, and I’d like to be able to help free her home.” Ashley paces about the observation deck.

“Home,” Sam echoes. “That would be nice.”

“You’ve got Horizon.”

“And you’ve got your family,” Sam counters. “But we don’t have anywhere together.” She laughs. “Except maybe the Normandy.”

“Can you imagine? I suppose I will be traipsing around the galaxy as a Spectre.” She punches Sam’s shoulder. “You can be my sexy sidekick.” 

“My hero!” Sam swoons, and Ashley kisses her happily. Time enough for sorrow later.

***

They’re back on Tuchanka after liberating Rannoch. Somehow a crashed turian platoon hadn’t seemed as important when there was a genophage to cure. But Shepard had wanted to clean up the loose ends, and it was probably just as well given the massive bomb planted under the Kelphic Valley. Cerberus interference had been stiffer than expected, but luckily Shepard had decided to bring along the entire ground team for a change to see how all of them fought side-by-side. Ashley smiles at the memories, including sniping an Atlas pilot in his cockpit.

The survivors of the original Normandy crew have gathered with Wrex to reminisce. “Fuck,” Shepard slurs, bottle of ryncol cooling her fingers, “Remember when Cerberus was just a minor pain in the ass?” She drags herself to her feet. “I’ve been thinking: we’ve stopped the geth and quarians from having their distracting little war,” Tali snorts from her perch on Garrus’s thigh, “so really we ought to finish Cerberus off. And then we can focus on stopping the Reapers.” The firelight glints off her teeth. “Any objections?”

“Not that I don’t want to watch you break the Illusive Man over your knee,” Garrus offers, “but there is the small detail of finding him first.”

“Galaxy’s a big place,” Wrex agrees.

“Fuck.” Shepard takes another pull from the bottle. “Also, you’d think I’d get drunker faster with less organic tissue to intoxicate, not slower. Probably the tech doing it. One more thing to blame Cerberus for. Bastards.”

“They did bring you back to life,” Liara points out, mock-serious. “For which I am very grateful.”

“There’s that.” She swirls the clear liquid noisily. “Suggestions?”

Sam, listening with half an ear (the other ear rested comfortably against Ashley’s arm), raises a hand. “I don’t know if this is what you had in mind, but there’s a refugee shelter on Horizon called Sanctuary. And I’ve been hearing strange things about it from my family.”

Shepard blinks at her. “Williams, kiss the girl for me. Because that might be worth a look.” The others rumble, training unfocused eyes on the couple.

“You aren’t going to refuse a direct order, are you, soldier?” Sam teases. The others cheer as Ashley pulls her into a kiss.

***

“I confess to being disappointed in Wolfshadow’s first outing.” The Illusive Man’s free hand drums on the arm of his chair. “Not only did you fail to secure the bomb, you lost Grimes.”

“Actually,” Kendricks interjects, sparing Brooks the necessity of responding, “that may be only a temporary setback.” His eyes light up with what Brooks realizes must be genuine excitement. “You see, I was able to transfer Mr. Grimes’s consciousness into one of my mech units.” Another flicker of pleasure crosses his face. “He seems to be adapting quite well. You like being in a YMIR, don’t you, Grimes?” The enormous robot bobs its head. That was going to take some getting used to. “I must remember to thank Shepard if I see her; the data we recovered from Project Overlord was most useful.”

A grin spreads across the Illusive Man’s face. “Human ingenuity at its finest, Operative Brooks.” Maya forces herself not to recoil with disgust. “Maybe your team wasn’t such an abject failure after all. Keep me posted on Grimes’s condition, Dr. Kendricks. And I’m transferring over another individual who I think will prove useful once Wolfshadow is ready for action. In the meantime, I have another mission for you; some data needs recovering from our operations at Sanctuary.” 


	6. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroines make their return to Horizon.

“Shit,” Shepard mutters as they take their initial scans of Horizon. “Place is crawling with Reapers.” Traynor goes pale beside her. “Communications are jammed planetside. Ashley, take a squad to secure the colony. Liara, Vega, you’re with me in the shuttle.”

Ashley nods and signals Javik and EDI. Samantha pulls her aside. “That’s my family down there.”

“I know.” She gives Sam’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll try to find them.”

Sam’s hand closes around her inhaler. “Let me come with you.” Ashley holds her eyes. “I can cut through the jamming more easily from the ground, and I can broadcast the evacuation protocols.”

“And this has nothing to do with the fact that your family is in danger.” Ashley tries to look serious but finally relents. “Come on, Specialist. We’ve got ourselves a colony to save.”

***

“Finally; someone competent has come for me.” Henry Lawson breathes a sigh of relief. “I’ve got our latest results on an OSD.” Maya plucks the data from his hand and turns away. “Wait, aren’t you going to…?”

“Our mission was specifically to recover the indoctrination research, Mr. Lawson. Sanctuary is still your responsibility.” She waves coyly at him as she and Jinan leave.

“I can’t say I feel bad for leaving him behind--all those people killed.”

“If it wins us the war...”

“I suppose…” Jinan was distinctly queasy. “I just wish we could do something for the colony.”

“And get us all killed by Reapers? No, thank you.” 

Ueno observes all this, detached, and files it away for the future. Are they shagging, he wonders?

***

“You are making weak decisions because of your emotional attachments,” Javik opines on the shuttle ride down.

“What do you mean?”

“Your _paramour_ will be a liability when the fighting begins.” He sniffs in Traynor’s general direction. “She already stinks of fear. The quarian could do the same job and be better in combat.” He smirks. “And if the quarian should die in battle, her kidneys would be a delicacy.”

“Traynor will be just fine when the bullets start flying.” She has to restrain herself from clocking the prothean in his smug, four-eyed face. “You just focus on killing Reapers and keeping colonists safe.” She doesn’t hear all of what he mutters, but she catches the word ‘expendable.’ _That_ makes something in her snap and she grabs him by the v-neck of his armor. “Nobody is expendable. Not if I goddamn well have anything to say about it. Understood?”

EDI flicks a glance over her shoulder from the pilot’s seat as the tension mounts. “Understood,” Javik yields. He ostentatiously reviews his weapon in silence.

“Lieutenant Commander, there is a pitched battle on the outskirts of the colony,” EDI reports.

“Who’s shooting at who?”

“Visual data suggests a mix of Reaper forces, Cerberus troops, and colonial militia.”

“Take us in, guns blazing. Give us one strafing pass to keep everyone’s heads down, then put us down behind the militia.”

“Aye-aye, ma’am.” EDI permits herself a small smile as she opens fire, making Reaper bodies explode. The shuttle isn’t quite as satisfying as the Normandy but the tangible sensation of depressing the firing button carries a certain pleasure. 

***

“Hey, big sis.” Brendan greets them as they join the colonists behind their makeshift barricade. “Nice of you to bring friends.”

“What are you doing here?” she hisses at him.

“What does it look like?” he asks, hefting his rifle. 

“You’re a smartass teenager, not a soldier!”

“You think the Reapers care? We all fight, or we all die.”

Sam opens her mouth to argue further but spots a wave of husks coming towards them. “This isn’t over!” She settles next to him, pistol up, shooting at the line of perverted bodies. Just like shooting tin cans, she thinks, steadying her hand.

Beside her, Ashley pitches a grenade into the middle of the charging husks, breaking the advance’s momentum. “Target those barrier engines!” she orders as a brute with fire support moves on the Cerberus position. EDI nods and pulls Sam clear of a pair of nearby husks before complying. Ashley tries not to feel too overprotective. Or too jealous, as Sam thanks their robotic teammate with a blush. 

The suddenly exposed Reapers begin pulling back, and Ashley has to rally the exuberant militia not to charge after them. The over-aggressive Cerberus forces don’t refrain from that mistake.

“That assault does not appear tactically sound,” EDI observes.

“Not if what you care about is staying alive.” Ashley peers through her scope. “But if what you care about is keeping them away from Sanctuary…” She shifts her focus to the nearby structure. “Makes you wonder what they’ve got in there.” She straightens up. “Everybody be ready to mop up what’s left.”

“I look forward to it,” Javik utters with grim glee.

***

“I congratulate you on your first success,” the Illusive Man drawls. “That data will let you pursue the next phase of your project, Dr. Ruud.”

“I look forward to it,” she replies with glee. “And proving that biological humans are superior to a collection of brainwaves in a machine.” She glares pointedly at Kendricks. “Nothing against you, Grimes. Better than dying, I suppose.”

The mech lets out a satisfied beep.

“I hope that your continued missions will demonstrate the value of your approaches to each other.” There is a strong note of command in the wish. Brooks glares at her team, such as it is. We’re on thin ice here, she realizes. But we’re in too deep now to get out.

***

All things considered, Ash is just as glad to have let Cerberus and the Reapers mostly fight each other. The militia is brave enough but they don’t have the training or weapons of real marines. Even in mop-up duty, many of them are injured. 

“Jesus,” she breathes, helping a medic pull a jagged piece of shrapnel out of a girl in her late teens. She thinks the young woman will be lucky and won’t lose the arm. But nobody should have to grow up like this. “How many kids are growing up too fast?” 

“Better that than they don’t grow up at all.”

“Thanks for that, Javik.” Ash rolls her eyes. “Traynor, how are the communication lines?”

“Working on it,” Sam calls, face screwed up in concentration. “Aaaand done.”

Miranda Lawson’s familiar voice comes over all channels: “Repeat: Sanctuary is a front for a Cerberus experiment. Do not seek refuge in Sanctuary.”

“Fuck,” Brendan shakes his head, and Samantha has to remember to glare at him after months among the marines and crewmen of the Normandy. “Knew I didn’t like that place.”

“I hope they’re alright in there,” Ashley straightens up and barks: “Everybody form up! I want a perimeter established between Sanctuary and the colony. I don’t want anybody getting taken by surprise.” 

“Who the hell are you to be giving us orders?” 

“I’m the grunt who pulled your necks out of the fire.” No sense appealing to her rank in the Alliance or her Spectre status, not out here. The other militia members join her in glaring at the speaker. 

“Yes’m.” The troublemaker falls in with the rest of them, forming a defensive line. Okay, Sam thinks, so that was kind of hot.

They hold the line until Shepard returns from Sanctuary. “What news, Commander?”

“One bright spot in that freakish hell: I got a front row seat to watch as the Lawson girls killed their father.” She grins. “No more than he deserved. Pity he didn’t have any information on where the Illusive Man is hiding. Let’s get out of here.” She rolls her eyes. “Especially since apparently Councillor Tevos has something important enough that she has to tell me in person.”


	7. The Battle of the Citadel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle; need I say more?

“Liara?” Sam taps timidly on her door. She’d drawn the short straw of the shipboard crew to check up on Dr. T’Soni. Usually this would be a duty the CO delegated to herself, but Shepard was locked in the War Room with Hackett, planning something big. “Are...are you okay?”

“Thessia’s burning and I can’t do anything about it. And please don’t try to make me feel better by saying that at least we got the VI from the beacon, because I’ve got to figure out how the asari are going to cope with the fallout from having concealed Prothean technology from the other races.”

“I know,” Sam says, and sits down next to Liara. “But you do what you can, right?” 

Liara pulls away from herself. “Thank you, Sam. You have been a good friend.”

Sam is saved having to come up with an appropriate response by EDI. “Dr. T’Soni, Specialist Traynor: the Commander requests your presence in the war room.”

***

EDI’s platform is already there, even though the AI can hear them wherever they are on the ship. Tali and Garrus are already chatting with Shepard. James is right behind them, coming up from the armory. Javik arrives fashionably late, because apparently 50,000 years wasn’t long enough to wait. 

Shepard sits up straight and clears her throat, silencing the rest of the room. “Not a word of this is to leave this room. I don’t think I need to remind you of the stakes.” She lets that sink in before continuing. “We were able to recover the Prothean VI from Thessia, and we convinced it to tell us what the Catalyst is: it’s the Citadel.” Everyone who can draw breath does so, sharp and low. 

“Time to destroy the Reapers,” Javik announces coldly. Shepard continues.

“At this moment we are en route to the Citadel. We land, we find out how to connect it to the Crucible...and hopefully we do this without the Reapers noticing.”

“What about Cerberus? What about eliminating distractions?” Garrus asks.

“Hopefully we dealt them a serious blow by destroying their Sanctuary facility. Unfortunately, our leads on their headquarters have dried up. We’ll just have to let them go for the time being.” Shepard laughs. “Frankly, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

“What about Earth?” James, predictably.

Shepard bows her head. “They’ll just have to hold a little longer. But if anyone can do it, it’s Anderson. I have faith in him.” James nods, placated. “We’ll just have to make sure they don’t have to wait long.”

Tali raises her hand. “And what if the Reapers are already there?”

“Then we fight. No choice. We’ve been keeping the Crucible hidden, powered down, and heavily defended, but if it comes down to it, we’ll have to move it quickly, dock it with the Citadel, and hope for the best.” She claps her hands. “This is it, ladies and gentlemen.”

***

“Take us in, nice and casual,” Shepard orders Joker. Garrus and James are already waiting by the airlock. “Hopefully this won’t take long,” she quips at Ashley. “You’ve got the helm, Williams. Take good care of her for me.”

“Aye-aye, skipper.”

“And Williams,” she adds, close and quiet, “if this all goes pear-shaped, keep Liara safe.”

“Yes’m. Hope it won’t come to that.” She doesn’t have any qualms about this order--as long as Liara stays on the Normandy and she can keep the frigate in one piece, she’ll also be keeping Sam safe.

“Hoping doesn’t win wars, Ash,” and just for that instant Shepard lets her guard down. How much has she been bearing up under? How much has she been hiding? “Come on, boys, let’s see what’s for sale.”

***

Everything goes according to plan for, oh, an hour. Ashley paces back and forth and Sam holds her console with white knuckles. That’s when EDI’s voice crackles over the air. “Lieutenant Commander, there are Reapers inbound. Citadel defense forces are engaging but are overmatched. Your orders?”

“Goddamnit.” Ashley closed her eyes and tightened her shoulders. “Javik, Tali, suit up. We’re taking the other copy of the Prothean VI and buying Shepard some insurance. Liara, if something goes wrong and nobody comes back, you’re in command. Joker, as soon as my team is away, get the Normandy in the air and see if you can screen off some of the fighters from the evac shuttles, buy them some time. Traynor, get on the QEC with Hackett...because we’re going to need to bring the Crucible in _hot_. After that, do what you can. And if that means leaving to fight another day...so be it.”

“Understood,” Joker and Liara mouth in dry unison. Sam sprints to the QEC. Ashley holds it together until she gets to the elevator to the armory. 

“Well, I guess this is it, one way or the other,” she says to her omnitool’s recorder. “I hope we have more time, given how much we wasted. I hope there’s a galaxy to put back together at the end of the day. But there’s no one I’d rather figure things out together with. If this is the last you hear of me, then, I love you, Sam Traynor.” End recording, transmit.

Eyes clear, she steps out into the armory. 

***

To his credit, Hackett doesn’t flinch at the news. “We’ll mobilize the fleets at once,” and Sam is reminded that his withered shoulders are carrying the weight of supreme command over the largest fleet the galaxy has ever seen in what might be the final battle ever fought. “We’ve been waiting for this news. And now we’re coming with all speed.” He glances over at an officer outside of the view of the camera. “Give the order to Sword to jump, then Hammer and its escorts on the count of twenty. Shield and the Crucible to go to red alert, to jump on my order.” 

Sam glances out the nearest viewport and is staggered by the wondrous technology of the QEC and the mass relays. No sooner had Hackett given the orders than the first waves of ships began to appear behind the Reaper formations, catching them unawares. She can’t help but cheer, bringing a smile to Hackett’s craggy face. “Godspeed, Normandy. If you’ll excuse me, I have a battle to win. Hackett out.”

And, of course, now that she’s completed her last standing order, she can go back to worrying about Ash. She sighs. Or she could do something useful, like optimize communications among the allied ships. Yes. That.

The ‘incoming message’ light flashes on her omnitool, unheeded.

***

“Where next, Javik?” Ashley shouts, because _of course_ the damn racist VI refused to interact with anyone except Javik and Shepard, if only because of the damn beacon. 

“Left!” the Prothean calls, leading them into the horrific scene of a Banshee tearing a civilian clean in half. 

“Take that thing _down_!” Killing Reapers isn’t their top priority, but it does make moving around a little easier. The ground troops of Hammer are helping, but they’re still overmatched and outnumbered. She’s lost track of how long they’ve been fighting.

They kite away from the Banshee, which flashes around the battlefield, just trying to keep away Easier said than done in heavy armor, Ashley thinks, sprinting to cover. Not fast enough, she realizes as pressure tightens around her throat. Time slows. This is it, she thinks. She can picture the Banshee’s clawed hand rearing back to plunge through her abdomen and gut her. 

Goodbye, Sam…

***

“What’s happening?” Samantha asks as Hackett’s voice cuts through the chaos, ordering a mass evacuation over an emergency channel. 

“The Crucible,” Liara breathes, watching the massive sphere light with green. Sam can see her heart roil. “Joker, we need to go, now.”

“But she’s--!”

“Don’t you think I know that?” she asks with the coolness of a century. The pilot, cowed, obeys, and the Normandy rides a wave of green out of the Widow system.

***

Ashley opens her eyes and thinks she must be in hell before she recognizes the wartorn passages of the Citadel. “What?...” She asks idiotically. All around her, Reapers, soldiers, and civilians are standing around, looking warily at one another. They are glowing green, the light even visible through Tali’s tinted mask.

“I don’t actually know.” Tali twists her hands together. “But I think Shepard must have done it. You know, whatever ‘it’ is.”

“Shepard,” Ashley breathes. “O Captain…” She turns to Javik. “Take us to her. Now.”

This goes a lot faster now that nobody is shooting at them. In point of fact, it even gets easier as things go: everyone--everyone! Even the Reapers--is helping clear rubble so emergency supplies can get from place to place. Ashley vows to help as soon as she finds out what happened to the others. But she has to know, has to see the grin on Shepard’s face.

“What’s going on?” Tali asks a distraught Garrus once they arrive. James is hurt bad but patched up.

“Me and Jimmy...Shepard told us to hold the door behind her as the Reapers started to close in. Don’t tell him this, but I owe Vega my life. We both damn near ran out of ammo before…” He trails off. “I haven’t been able to go in--I think Vega will pull through, but it’s been touch and go. Afraid we were going to lose him if I left him alone for five minutes. But…” His voice locks up. “She hasn’t come out yet.”

“She could be hurt! Or trapped!” Tali’s voice rises with alarm.

“Javik, stay with James.” Ashley orders, because if anyone should be there at the end with her, it should be them. “Eyes sharp, you two.”

“Team Dextro’s got your back,” Tali quips, and they are able to forget everything, just for one second. 

They search the room: every crevice, every corner, every pile of rubble. But there is no trace of Commander Shepard.


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The smoke clears, and old faces step from the shadows...

It takes some time for Cerberus to restore communications both within itself and with the galaxy at large. The Illusive Man is practically seething by the time Kronos Station is fully functional again. But when he sees one particular piece of news, he beams. “Operative Brooks,” he greets the dark-skinned woman. A pale, heavily-scarred man steps into view behind her. “I see you’ve met Operative Alenko.”

“Yes.” She spares a glance behind her. “I suppose it’s beyond my pay grade to know how we managed to bring him back from nuclear vaporization?” 

“Operative Alenko was actually easier than his former CO.” Kaidan snarls at the Illusive Man’s words, who merely stubs out his cigarette. “When Saren constructed his facility on Virmire, he was keenly aware of the danger of orbital bombardment. Naturally, he included several subterranean shelters in the facility.”

“How did he get there?” she asks, her curiosity overriding everything else.

“I was with a squad of salarians,” Kaidan rasps behind her. “We put up a good fight against the geth, but they kept driving us further down into the facility. Maybe they were trying to keep us away from disabling another AA gun. I don’t know.”

Curious, Maya thinks. I would have thought he was heavily brainwashed or had a control chip in his head to work for us. “And so you survived.”

He manages a ragged cough. “Barely. Even the hardened shelter wasn’t built to have a nuke go off right overhead. Collapsed on me.”

“That was where a Cerberus team found him, clinging to consciousness. They were looking for reaper tech, but a human in need.” The Illusive Man shrugs. “And now he works for me. And without the work we did repairing him, we wouldn’t have had the technology we needed to bring Shepard back.”

“Don’t remind me,” Kaidan spits.

“Not fond of her, I take it?”

“I had a lot of time to think down there. At first, I was just glad Ash...Chief Williams...got out safe. But then...Shepard left me to die. I don’t want to have anything to do with her.”

“Hopefully you won’t let your feelings impair the success of the mission, Operative Alenko. Because as of this moment, Wolfshadow is go.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! Tune in next week for chapter one of the third and final installment.

**Author's Note:**

> Work title from Kipling; chapter title and the poem Ashley quotes both from Milton's Paradise Lost.


End file.
